The document provides an annual report on power outages in the United States in 2012. It finds that 25 million people were affected by 2,808 outages, with an average of 13,442 people impacted per outage. The largest outage was caused by Hurricane Sandy, affecting over 8 million people along the East Coast. Weather events and equipment failures were among the leading causes of outages nationally.
Both Technology Leadership blog and the Blackout Tracker Annual Report show a general trend upward in large blackouts.
What will we do? The question has no answer now but will certainly be a topic for debate going forward.
Hurricane Sandy was the largest Hurricane ever recorded with tropical force winds extending out 900 miles. The “summer storm” was followed by triple digit temperatures adding to the misery of millions of people.
Data center outagesGeorge Washington University, D.C. – March 21 - affected Foggy Bottom data center. The cause was not known.Amazon Web Services (AWS), Herndon, VA – June 14 - Affected services included Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Relational Database Service and AWS Elastic Beanstalk. No cause was provided. Another outage was reported at AWS on June 30 affecting Instagram and Netflix. Strong storms were thought to have caused the outage.Equinix, Silicon Valley, Calif. – July 10 -Salesforce.com was affected. A cause was not reported.Hurricane Sandy, New York and New Jersey – October 29/30 - Data centers throughout the region were hit hard by the loss of power, flooding and difficulty obtaining diesel fuel. Internap and Peer1 Hosting were forced to shut down. Internap ran out of fuel for its generators. Datagram also had to shut down when the part of its Manhattan facility that houses diesel pumps, which send fuel to generators, became completed submerged in the flood waters. Arizona Department of Economic Security , Phoenix, Ariz – November 9 - The cause of the power failure was not reported. It lasted for about four hours.
Complete descriptions:1. A well-deserved retirement for Endeavor, October 12 – Los Angeles, Calif. The planned outage was necessary so the space shuttle Endeavor could travel through the streets of Los Angeles to its new home in the California Science Center. The outage affected 400 people for four hours. 2. Thwarting a suicide attempt, March 25 – Bakersfield, Calif. A despondent man climbed an electric tower and threatened to jump off. The utility company had to shut off the power to 25,000 people during the incident. The man was successfully talked down.3. Dad’s day disaster, June 17 – Mountain View, Calif. A bicycle chain was responsible for a 41-minute Father's Day blackout. The chain was hurled at some utility equipment, knocking out electricity to 1,516 customers. 4. Let’s talk turkey, April 8 – Sonoma County, Calif. A wild turkey flew into power lines and knocked out the high-tech, emergency 911 dispatch system. The baked bird also crippled operations at the county courthouse and jail until the following day.5. Off the beaten track, February 21 – Bayonne, NJ. A Conrail train hooked some telephone company wires in Bayonne, N.J., bringing down three utility wires and cutting power to 800 customers.
Complete descriptions: 6. Stealing the (spot)light, August 25 – Casper, Wyo. A fleeing felon was fingered for an outage that left 4,000 customers powerless. The suspected Colorado felon was attempting to evade authorities when his car crashed into a power pole. 7. Veering off the scheduled itinerary, September 16 – Land O’ Lakes, Fla. A power outage was caused by an ultra light plane crashing into power lines near U.S. 41 and State Road 52.8. What a buzz kill, September 10 – Fairfield County, Ohio. Buzzards roosting on transmission lines and transformers caused a power outage.9. The smoking gun, January 12 – Jackson, Mich. A gunshot damaged more than 10 insulators prompting the utility to offer a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the vandalism. Some 1,900 customers lost power in the incident.10. A real snake in the grass, May 16 – Gadsden, Ala. A 6-foot copperhead snake slithered into equipment and caused major caused transmission issues, cutting power to 6,700 people and affecting numerous substations.
Total number of people affected (and average) is based on 1,857 (66%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) is based on 484 (17%) of the total reported outages. These are the number of outages that had reports that included data for number of people affected and duration, respectively.
Each power outage was grouped into one of eight possible causes. The number adjacent to the pie piece is the number of outages attributable to that cause.Weather causes more outages than anything else.
Regions: New England: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, MaineNortheast: New York, Pennsylvania, New JerseyEast: Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland (includes Washington DC), DelawareEastern Midwest: Wisconsin, Illinois, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, IndianaSoutheast: Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, FloridaSouth: Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, OklahomaWestern Midwest: South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, IowaMountain: Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New MexicoSouthwest: Nevada, California, ArizonaNorthwest: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, MontanaExtra Continental: Alaska, Hawaii
Number following animal type in the legend indicates number of reported outages caused by that animal. The bird category includes the following types: wild turkey, sea gull, goose, hawk, crow, bald eagle, turkey buzzard, monk parakeet, duck, owl, osprey and unknown bird. According to TE Connectivity, seven percent of outages are caused by animals. The tracker confirms this for 2012. The estimated cost to utility companies for recovering from animal-related outages is between $15 million and $18 million annually. According to the Braintree Electric Department, by installing squirrel guards on the equipment most affected, animal-caused outages were reduced by approximately 80%.
A study in North Carolina found that it would cost approximately $41 billion and would take 25 years to bury all the power lines in the state. The results of studies in this area are that the costs of burying power lines are generally cost-prohibitive. The cost becomes more reasonable if an entire development is being excavated and the power lines can be buried as part of this process. Another exception is in large cities where above ground space is at a premium and the underground infrastructure exists.
1. The first part is an outage summary. The results are computed in the same manner as those in the outage summary found in the national power outage data in the previous part of this report. Only data pertaining to the particular state is used. 2. The second part of the analysis on each state is the outage fact. This is simply an interesting fact concerning a particular outage (or outages) in a state. 3. The third part of the analysis is a chart of the power outages by cause. This is the same type of chart that can be found in the national power outage data in the previous part of this report. Only data pertaining to the particular state is used. 4. The last part of each state section is the number of power outages by month. This is the same type of chart that can be found in the national power outage data in the previous part of this report. Only data pertaining to the particular state is used. From this chart it may be possible to determine particular times of the year when power outages are more common.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 20 (51%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (13%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 5 (36%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (36%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 31 (65%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 15 (31%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 11 (73%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (33%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 386 (76%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 81 (16%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 28 (70%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 14 (35%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 35 (64%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (9%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 15 (83%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 2 (11%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 35 (61%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 11 (19%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 14 (38%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (14%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 16 (46%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 7 (20%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 24 (89%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 6 (22%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 50 (66%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 12 (16%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 38 (62%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 16 (26%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 17 (74%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (22%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 22 (67%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 6 (18%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 23 (74%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 6 (19%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 34 (65%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (10%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 17 (71%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (21%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 29 (53%) of the total reported outages. Total duration of outages (and average) based on 3 (5%) of the total reported outages. Data includes outages in Wash. DC.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 48 (65%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 16 (22%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 86 (69%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 18 (14%) of the total reported outages.
Total numberof people affected (and average) based on 23 (59%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 11 (28%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 10 (71%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 6 (43%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 23 (38%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 27 (44%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 9 (36%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 7 (28%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 13 (68%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 6 (32%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 21 (75%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 1 (4%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 15 (58%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 3 (12%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 80 (67%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 16 (13%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 7 (54%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 93 (70%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 23 (17%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 46 (70%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 8 (12%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 7 (44%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 10 (63%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 63 (69%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 17 (19%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 25 (74%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 1 (3%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 41 (69%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 7 (12%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 66 (61%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 10 (9%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 6 (86%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 1 (14%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 19 (59%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 7 (22%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 3 (38%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 1 (13%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 16 (53%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 9 (30%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 79 (60%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 15 (11%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 13 (68%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (26%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 7 (54%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 4 (31%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 55 (72%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 5 (7%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 59 (66%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 16 (18%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 18 (69%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 2 (8%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 54 (81%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 13 (19%) of the total reported outages.
Total number of people affected (and average) based on 6 (67%) of the total reported outages.Total duration of outages (and average) based on 2 (22%) of the total reported outages.